Teen Titans: The Way We Never Were
by Mezzo-chan
Summary: There is a plot forming against the Titans. Alliances are being forged under the cover of darkness. Failure will not spell their end. It will unmake their beginning. Love, Trust, and Fate are all tested in the race to save the Teen Titans.


**Teen Titans: The Way We Never Were**

**By Mezzo-chan**

_**Prologue**_

Life in prison was hard. It wasn't the food or the people or even the claustrophobia. He was beyond all that. No, what was truly torture for Warp was being stuck in this _primitive_ time period, subjected to all manner of idiocy that the ancient penal system had to offer.

"Worthless fossils," he muttered to himself as the guards finished inspection, his eyes shifting up and down the row of common street thugs.

"What was that LaSalle?" a rather large, militaristic looking guard asked, shoving his nightstick under Warp's chin.

"Nothing, Mr. Isaacs…" he said disdainfully, "Absolutely nothing,"

The cell doors slammed shut, and Warp found himself alone again, staring at the muck crusted mirror above his little sink.

"What have you been reduced to?" he asked his reflection, "Beaten by children, stranded in the past, forced to share quarters with common rapscallions. A mind of my caliber should be feared, no, WORSHIPPED by these people," he began to rant, his voice steadily growing louder and echoing off the metal walls, "They are _insects_ in comparison to my vast knowledge of time, space and causality! I am Warp, MASTER OF-"

"SHUT UP!"

"Drat," he looked forlornly down at his common prison garb, "Master of Time…the least they could do is put me in a Maximum security prison," he sat down on his bed, "Monsieur Mallah, Lex Luthor, The Riddler," he mused, "_Real_ masterminds,"

He sat and thought long and hard, memories of the Teen Titans surfacing in his head, how they had ripped his temporal flux capacitor out of his suit, how without his suit, he was no threat at all.

"A brilliant mind like mine…brought down by mere children…"

Night fell and Warp was sleeping in his cell.

"_You're not getting away with this!" cried Robin, his team assembling behind him._

"Oh but I think I will my boy, I have all the TIME in the world!" he readied himself to open a portal, the electrodes in his suit whirring to life.

_His arm froze, surrounded by black energy._

_"Sorry," Raven said grimly, "I'm not one for short good-byes,"_

_Starfire and Beast Boy charged, triumph on their faces._

_"Let me go! Why do you attempt to thwart my genius?" he screamed._

_"Genius or not, dude, you got no excuse to mess with innocent people," Beast Boy quipped, changed into a ram and butting Warp into the wall._

_"And we're sorry to disappoint you," Starfire landed before him, "but you are breaking the stream of time for selfish reasons," she hefted him into the air and threw him towards Cyborg._

_"And that," Cyborg smiled, his cannon poised, "earns you a Titans style butt whoopin'" the light flashed, Warp screamed, and the last thing he saw were all five of the despicable do-gooders spinning round and round until….black._

"AAAAAAARGH!" Warp jerked up out of his bed, just as an explosion shook the room. He covered his head with his hands and looked up at the gaping hole in the wall, light streaming through the dust and the figure of a man, tall and dark, standing before him.

"Emil LaSalle," a smooth, charismatic voice began, "Born in 2085 in Auvergne, France,"

"Who…who are you?" Warp began, "How do you know my-"

"Noted scientist in research of temporal distortion," the voice continued, "Killed your partner, stole his work and called it a lab accident, proceeded to find and acquire history's 'lost' treasures," the man stepped over the rubble, the dust swirling around him as he moved with catlike precision and grace, "you were recently quoted as being, let's see, 'predestined to steal the items history reported as lost, lest the fabric of time be unraveled'. You were imprisoned after your technology was confiscated under charges of theft, disturbing the peace, reckless endangerment, and my personal favorite, dangerous altering of the time-space continuum,"

Warp sat in awe of the man standing before him, "What…what do you want with me?"

"I like your _style_, Mr. LaSalle," the man bent over, his face inches away from Warp's, a single eye piercing through the black and bronze mask, "and I have need of your services…as Warp,"

"What do I get out of helping you?"

"Ah, I expected this," the man stood upright, "In return for helping me, you will get three things: One, unlimited access to your technology and the benefits of time travel," he held his finger up for emphasis, then raised a second, "Two, I will not leave you here to be responsible for the damage I have done, which could possibly earn you a life sentence or _worse_," Warp swallowed with a loud _gulp_,

"And three," a final finger came up, "You will be given the honor of assisting me in the complete destruction of the _Teen Titans_,"

Warp's eyes widened, a rather disturbing smile spread across his face, and after a few low chuckles, "What should I address you as, Boss?"

Alarms began to sound and a fluctuating red light filled the jail as the personnel realized too late what was transpiring.

The man chuckled, his black form illuminated by the red beacons.

"Slade…I am called….Slade,"

_**Author's Notes:**_

_Well thus begins a mighty saga, brought to you by me! Mezzo-chan! This is my first attempt at a multi-chapter fic that's not made up of drabbles. So yes, this will be a semi-long fic, and yes, the chapters will actually be connected._

_I'm praying that don't muck this up, but I'm sure if the response is good, I'll keep it up!_

_So, stay tuned for the next chapter!_


End file.
